Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
THE PITTSBURGH PROMISE FOUNDATION
THE PITTSBURGH PROMISE FOUNDATION (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 84 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,875,558 to it, the largest being RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION ($6,525,000). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.4M
- Funders on record
- 84
- Grants received
- $25M
- Net assets
- $56M
What The Pittsburgh Promise Foundation does
Mission
The pittsburgh promise promotes high educational aspirations among urban youth, funds scholarships for post-secondary access, and fuels a prepared and diverse regional workforce.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The pittsburgh promise was launched in 2007 with a $100 million commitment by the university of pittsburgh medical center (upmc). Upmc's commitment included an initial $10 million contribution and the remaining $90 million was a challenge grant intended to spur a community-wide campaign to raise an additional $150 million from other private sources, including foundations, corporations, and individuals. Our mission: the pittsburgh promise promotes high educational aspirations among urban youth, funds scholarships for post-secondary access, and fuels a prepared and diverse regional workforce. See continuation on schedule oour vision: we envision a future where all our urban youth are equipped to reach post-secondary success, our public schools serve all children excellently, our city is flourishing in all its neighborhoods, and our workforce is widely diverse and highly skilled to advance a region that is good and just for all. Our guiding principles: -equity and inclusion: we are committed to educational, econominc, racial, social, and cultural equity and inclusion. -excellence: we conduct our work with urgency, steward our resources prudently, and apply the highest standards of…
$10,621,507 spentof which $7,802,800 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $10,621,507.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $67M to $60M (−11%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2019 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
47% of THE PITTSBURGH PROMISE FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 8 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Anne Lewis
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 18 funders to 43 funders, grant income rose $376k → $5.2M.
10 of 84 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 3% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $9.4M from 9 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Pittsburgh Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money THE PITTSBURGH PROMISE FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of THE PITTSBURGH PROMISE FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 84 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
THE PITTSBURGH PROMISE FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 59% · 2018 54% · 2019 73% · 2020 42% · 2021 55% · 2022 21% · 2023 39% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
52% of THE PITTSBURGH PROMISE FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
96% of THE PITTSBURGH PROMISE FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $843k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
THE PITTSBURGH PROMISE FOUNDATION's funding base is broadening — from 18 funders to 43 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,645 philanthropy nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding THE PITTSBURGH PROMISE FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $400k on record.
- Appalachian Regional Commission$400k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like THE PITTSBURGH PROMISE FOUNDATION
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 5 related entities
- The Pittsburgh Foundation · exempt
- Charles E Kaufman Foundation · exempt
- Neighborhood Allies · exempt
- The Forbes Funds · exempt
- The Jack G Buncher Charitable Fund for the Pittsburgh Fdn · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE PITTSBURGH PROMISE FOUNDATION: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds THE PITTSBURGH PROMISE FOUNDATION?
- THE PITTSBURGH PROMISE FOUNDATION (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 84 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,875,558 to it, the largest being RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION ($6,525,000). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE PITTSBURGH PROMISE FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 84 organizations giving $24,875,558 in grants to THE PITTSBURGH PROMISE FOUNDATION, 49 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE PITTSBURGH PROMISE FOUNDATION?
- RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $6,525,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE PITTSBURGH PROMISE FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Pittsburgh Promise →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 84 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing